MILWAUKEE — It’s a homecoming for Junior Bridgeman.
Bridgeman, 71, is now a significant minority owner of the Milwaukee Bucks — the same team he spent 10 seasons with as a player from 1975 to 1984 and 1986 to 1987.
The Bucks announced Bridgeman’s purchase in a news conference that included co-owner Jimmy Haslam, coach Doc Rivers, general manager Jon Horst and most of the team’s current players. Bridgeman said after the news conference he has a 10% stake in the team.
“The opportunity to get back involved with the team in a different way and take advantage of it was something that was kind of a dream,” Bridgeman said.
During his run with the Bucks, Bridgeman played in 711 games — the third most of any Bucks player behind Giannis Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton — for a total of 18,054 minutes. Out of all Bucks players, he ranks ninth for points scored with a total of 9,892. He averaged double digit scores for eight seasons in a row. The Bucks said Bridgeman consistently ranked among the NBA’s non-starters.
He ranks seventh in Bucks history in field goals made (4,142). In eight of his 10 seasons with the team, the Bucks made postseason.
The Bucks retired Bridgeman’s No. 2 jersey in 1988 and it now hangs in Fiserv Forum.
“I’m overjoyed to return to the Bucks, where I spent the heart of my NBA playing career, to join their world-class ownership group,” Bridgeman said. “I want to thank Dee and Jimmy, Wes, Jamie and Mike for their friendship and support in welcoming me back to Milwaukee. I hope that my life journey serves as an inspiration to current and future players who dream of joining an NBA ownership group. I look forward to cheering the Bucks on this season alongside our great fans.”
Bridgeman hails from East Chicago, Indiana and played three seasons of basketball at Louisville from 1972 to 1975. He was a first-round draft pick in 1975. After the Los Angeles Lakers selected Bridgeman, they sent him to Milwaukee as part of the blockbuster trade that brought Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to the West Coast.
He now joins a Bucks ownership group that includes Jimmy Haslam and his wife Dee, Wes Edens, Jamie Dinan and Mike Fascitelli. Jimmy Haslam praised the move by citing Bridgeman’s longstanding connections to Milwaukee and his success as a player and businessman as well as his character.
“It is a momentous occasion for our organization and the city of Milwaukee to welcome Junior Bridgeman to the Bucks’ ownership group,” said Bucks co-owners Edens, the Haslams, Dinan and Fascitelli. “Junior’s retired No. 2 jersey hangs in Fiserv Forum with other Bucks legends, a constant reminder of Junior’s impact on the Bucks’ great history. After his playing career, Junior became one of our country’s most successful business leaders and his story of hard work and perseverance serves as an inspiration to our players and athletes everywhere. We are proud that Junior’s professional life has come full circle as he returns to the Bucks family.”
“If you said, ‘All right, let’s find somebody to add as a partner,’ he’s No. 1,” Jimmy Haslam added. “And I can’t think who would be No. 2."
After Bridgeman’s final season with the Bucks, he retired from the NBA. He became the owner and CEO of Bridgeman Foods, operating more than 450 Wendy’s and Chili’s restaurants spanning 20 states until 2016. In 2017, Bridgeman Foods acquired Heartland Coca-Cola Bottling Company, LLC, becoming an independent bottler for coca-cola.
His family owns Ebony and Jet magazines.
Bridgeman also partnered with the Bucks on the “Bucks Win You Win” offer where fans can snag a free frosty from Wendy’s after the Bucks win a game.
Bridgeman's success as a player and as a businessman made him attractive to NBA teams seeking people to purchase stakes in their team.
“I’d gotten at least three calls in the last three months from people wanting to know if [I’d] get involved with a team,” Bridgeman said. "I said, ‘I appreciate the opportunity, but no,’ because there’s no real connection. I know Boston’s for sale, and as many knock-down, drag-out battles as we had with Boston, I couldn’t see being an owner of the Boston Celtics, as great as they are. It had to mean more than just investing. It had to have some kind of heartfelt connection.”
The Bucks offered that connection.
“When you played here and you became a part of the Bucks organization, even when you left, you never felt like you were not a part of the organization,” Bridgeman said.
Bridgeman said he even had conversations with former Sen. Herb Kohl when he put the Bucks up for sale a decade ago.
“I talked to Sen. Kohl back then,” Bridgeman said. “It just didn’t feel right at that time. Now it does.”
Edens and Marc Lasry, both New York investment firm executives, bought the Bucks from Kohl for about $550 million in 2014 with pledges to keep the team in Milwaukee. Jimmy Haslam bought Lasry's 25% stake in the team last year.
Jimmy Haslam said over the last year, a number of people who owned small percentages of the Bucks — a half-percent or 1% — wanted to tender their stocks. Those shares were purchased and then re-sold to Bridgeman.
Bridgeman hopes his new role helps him advise players on the right steps to take and the pitfalls they should avoid as they prepare for life after basketball. He's had those types of discussions with players in the past.
“Nobody wants to see guys not be successful, or as successful as they could be," Bridgeman said. "Maybe one day, they’ll be sitting up here, not being a 10% [owner] but buying the whole Milwaukee Bucks franchise. You never know.”
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